# Bill Nye booed for telling students the Moon only reflects light. **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [August 18, 2007, 7:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bill-nye-booed-for-telling-students-the-moon-only-reflects-light/416038 "2007-08-18T07:01:09Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 5
**Author:** ![wolf\_meister](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wolf_meister/32/15202_2.png) [@wolf\_meister](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wolf_meister)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2007, 5:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bill-nye-booed-for-telling-students-the-moon-only-reflects-light/416038/81 "2007-08-21T05:29:09Z")
Well I don’t think this story was made out of whole cloth so to speak, but it was exaggerated 16 months after the fact. I think **Tomndebb** summed things up pretty well, in posting #4. It was a story that was escalated by a bunch of bloggers 16 months after the event, which would explain why the story was “mysteriously pulled”. Most newspapers just keep stories (available free) at most for 30 days I think. I found a posting at [ocellated.com](http://www.ocellated.com/2006/04/13/bill-nye-in-waco/) (okay it is someone’s blog) but the posting date is April 13, _2006_. Then there are 3 replies, all dated April 13, 2006 and suddenly the next reply jumps to August 11, _2007_. Anyway, \*\*Tomndebb \*\*cited an August, 2007 story in the Waco Tribune (it requires registration) mentioning that due to funding cuts, McLennan Junior College will no longer have its lecture series _and_ the tuition will go up. But to show they have their priorities in the proper place, the next heading states “Sports Are Safe”. I ran into this story because lately, I’ve been surfing the Internet for websites that are “pro-creation”, “pro-Intelligent Design” and there are _plenty_ of them. What is surprising, maybe even scary, is the fact that when doing any kind of Internet search for evolution, fossils, dinosaurs, etc, I would say at least half the websites returned aren’t the real deal. You’ll find sites that talk about the evolution “controversy”, errors in the age of the Earth (always favoring the Genesis chronolgy). Knowing the Straight Dope Message Board membership, I imagine this is not a surprise to a _lot_ of you, but I thought it was something that was nonetheless worth mentioning. ---
**Author:** ![if6was9](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/e47c2d/32.png) [@if6was9](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/if6was9)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2007, 6:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bill-nye-booed-for-telling-students-the-moon-only-reflects-light/416038/82 "2007-08-21T06:53:56Z")
[QUOTE=SteveG1] There was a time when I used to feel (for who knows what reason) that everyone’s belief or opinion should be given respect - even if that respect was fake and was just a social courtesy. Now, having reached middle age, I don’t see it that way anymore. To much, I’ve seen people who demand “respect” while giving none in return, and demanding that the entire world bow down to them and their views - no matter how ignorant, ridiculous, and stupid they may be. They want to receive tolerance and respect, but they have nothing but abuse and sometimes outright hatred for any who don’t believe the same things. No more. There is a quote somewhere that I don’t feel like looking up right now. The gist of it is, you can have any moronic opinion or belief you want, you have a right to that moronic opinion or belief, but I do NOT have to respect it. I don’t have to pretend it’s all OK either. Maybe I’m jaded, maybe my “tolerance capital” has been all spent. [/QUOTE] And not just the crazy views and then outright disrespect if you disagree, but they pass both those beliefs AND the disrespect on to their children. ---
**Author:** ![Der\_Trihs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/der_trihs/32/233_2.png) [@Der\_Trihs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Der_Trihs)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2007, 8:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bill-nye-booed-for-telling-students-the-moon-only-reflects-light/416038/83 "2007-08-21T08:27:40Z")
[QUOTE=SteveG1] No more. There is a quote somewhere that I don’t feel like looking up right now. The gist of it is, you can have any moronic opinion or belief you want, you have a right to that moronic opinion or belief, but I do NOT have to respect it. I don’t have to pretend it’s all OK either. Maybe I’m jaded, maybe my “tolerance capital” has been all spent. [/QUOTE] Not really. After all, you aren’t beating them with clubs or censoring them or shooting them; you’re still tolerating them. Toleration and respect aren’t the same thing, and while toleration is necessary for a free society, respect isn’t. There does appear to be quite a few people who conflate the two, and claim that disrespect or criticism toward their pet belief is intolerant or oppressive. ---
**Author:** ![Pine\_Fresh\_Scent](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/43a26b/32.png) [@Pine\_Fresh\_Scent](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pine_Fresh_Scent)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2007, 8:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bill-nye-booed-for-telling-students-the-moon-only-reflects-light/416038/84 "2007-08-21T08:45:04Z")
Sorry to interrupt, but I just wanted to share [this image](http://www.boingboing.net/200706181605.jpg). I think it could be used by both camps of the creationism debate, and it makes me laugh every time I open it. edited to fix coding ---
**Author:** ![crowmanyclouds](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/crowmanyclouds/32/19884_2.png) [@crowmanyclouds](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/crowmanyclouds)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2007, 9:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bill-nye-booed-for-telling-students-the-moon-only-reflects-light/416038/85 "2007-08-21T09:20:00Z")
[QUOTE=Pine Fresh Scent] Sorry to interrupt, but I just wanted to share [this image](http://www.boingboing.net/200706181605.jpg). … [/QUOTE] Good, but not as good as Jesus, [riding a Jesus horse](http://images.tribe.net/tribe/upload/photo/fee/a04/feea0493-1086-43ea-9b57-ee0c43ece9ba.large-profile.jpg)! CMC fnord! ---
**Author:** ![Pine\_Fresh\_Scent](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/43a26b/32.png) [@Pine\_Fresh\_Scent](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pine_Fresh_Scent)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2007, 9:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bill-nye-booed-for-telling-students-the-moon-only-reflects-light/416038/86 "2007-08-21T09:50:47Z")
I believe. Jesus probably just borrowed [it](http://images.tribe.net/tribe/upload/photo/fee/a04/feea0493-1086-43ea-9b57-ee0c43ece9ba.large-profile.jpg) from Fred Flintstone down at the quarry. Too obscure? ---
**Author:** ![wolf\_meister](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wolf_meister/32/15202_2.png) [@wolf\_meister](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wolf_meister)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2007, 2:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bill-nye-booed-for-telling-students-the-moon-only-reflects-light/416038/87 "2007-08-21T14:29:17Z")
**Pine Fresh Scent** Great picture!!! ---
**Author:** ![Trunk](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/87869e/32.png) [@Trunk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Trunk)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2007, 3:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bill-nye-booed-for-telling-students-the-moon-only-reflects-light/416038/88 "2007-08-21T15:06:28Z")
Makes you wonder. . .what would Jesus moon? ---
**Author:** ![SteveG1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/bb73d2/32.png) [@SteveG1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SteveG1)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2007, 3:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bill-nye-booed-for-telling-students-the-moon-only-reflects-light/416038/89 "2007-08-21T15:29:10Z")
[QUOTE=DrDeth] Sure. But here we don’t know who is being an asshole- the dudes who walked out of the Nye seminar, or the dudes who made up that story out of whole cloth. Since we don’t know that nice little story actually happened, why do you scorn their beliefs? :dubious: [/QUOTE] If they believe the earth was made a week ago or the earth is flat and carried on the back of a reptile, or Jesus rode a dinosaur, or any other ridiculous thing, then I have no reason to not scorn their beliefs. There is no reason and nothing to gain in showing respect and sensitivity for willful stupidity. Only two things are infinite – the universe and human stupidity, and I’m not sure about the universe. -Albert Einstein “The opinion of 10,000 men is of no value if none of them know anything about the subject.” – Marcus Aurelius There is nothing more frightening than active ignorance. – Goethe Religions are like farts. Yours is good, but everyone else’s stinks. ~Picket Fences ---
**Author:** ![Troy\_McClure\_SF](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/troy_mcclure_sf/32/4150_2.png) [@Troy\_McClure\_SF](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Troy_McClure_SF)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2007, 11:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bill-nye-booed-for-telling-students-the-moon-only-reflects-light/416038/90 "2007-08-21T23:31:25Z")
[QUOTE=Don’t fight the hypothetical] Why the need for nannyism? To me it seems the problem was not introducing facts but using them to contradict a belief system. [/QUOTE] I dunno if I like the word “used” here. Facts simply _are_. It’s not Bill Nye’s fault that they contradict a belief system. Especially since facts and belief inherently contradict. ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2007, 11:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bill-nye-booed-for-telling-students-the-moon-only-reflects-light/416038/91 "2007-08-21T23:55:16Z")
[QUOTE=SteveG1] If they believe the earth was made a week ago or the earth is flat and carried on the back of a reptile, or Jesus rode a dinosaur, or any other ridiculous thing, then I have no reason to not scorn their beliefs. There is no reason and nothing to gain in showing respect and sensitivity for willful stupidity. [/QUOTE] I am sure someone somewhere believes in those things- and even sillier things. But we have no idea if the audience did. ---
**Author:** ![Cartooniverse](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cartooniverse/32/3084_2.png) [@Cartooniverse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cartooniverse)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2007, 11:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bill-nye-booed-for-telling-students-the-moon-only-reflects-light/416038/92 "2007-08-21T23:57:33Z")
[QUOTE=Duck Duck Goose] –snip–So, to a grape farmer, whose sustenance for the next 12 months will depend on whether his grapevines produce any decent grapes, a cluster of grapes is truly a beautiful thing. --snip– [/QUOTE] I kind of took it to mean that guys in the Bible had a thing for women with very small breasts. Yanno? I mean, some guys just really go for that kinda gal. This farming shit, man, you’re reading _waaayyyy_ too much into it. 😃 Cartooniverse ---
**Author:** ![Frylock](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/ce7236/32.png) [@Frylock](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Frylock)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2007, 12:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bill-nye-booed-for-telling-students-the-moon-only-reflects-light/416038/93 "2007-08-22T00:12:23Z")
[QUOTE=Troy McClure SF] I dunno if I like the word “used” here. Facts simply _are_. It’s not Bill Nye’s fault that they contradict a belief system. [/quote] Of course you can “use” a fact to accomplish this or that. I could “use” the fact that she is fat to hurt her feelings. I could “use” the fact that the moon is so-and-so miles away from Earth in order to design a rocket to get there. And so on and so on. So Nye might “use” the fact that the moon reflects light in order to relay information, in order to belittle a belief system, in order to correct a misunderstanding, in order to introduce a song, and on and on. > [@](#): > > Especially since facts and belief inherently contradict. Not true at all. If what you say were so, it would be impossible to believe a fact. -FrL- ---
**Author:** ![EllisDee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ellisdee/32/4531_2.png) [@EllisDee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EllisDee)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2007, 12:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bill-nye-booed-for-telling-students-the-moon-only-reflects-light/416038/94 "2007-08-22T00:17:40Z")
[QUOTE=Frylock] Not true at all. If what you say were so, it would be impossible to believe a fact. [/QUOTE] I tend to disagree. You don’t believe facts; you know them. Much like you don’t know the truth of your faith, you believe it. ---
**Author:** ![Boyo\_Jim](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/87869e/32.png) [@Boyo\_Jim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Boyo_Jim)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2007, 12:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bill-nye-booed-for-telling-students-the-moon-only-reflects-light/416038/95 "2007-08-22T00:19:37Z")
[QUOTE=Ellis Dee] I tend to disagree. You don’t believe facts; you know them. Much like you don’t know the truth of your faith, you believe it. [/QUOTE] I disagree, lots of people KNOW the Earth was created in 6 days – enough so that they raised enough money to build a “creationist museum”. ---
**Author:** ![Boyo\_Jim](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/87869e/32.png) [@Boyo\_Jim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Boyo_Jim)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2007, 12:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bill-nye-booed-for-telling-students-the-moon-only-reflects-light/416038/96 "2007-08-22T00:27:16Z")
And since we’re all speculating here, tell me which of these is more probable: 1. Bill Nye, an experienced entertainer and educator of children for many years, say something so grossly offenseive about religion vs. science that part of his audience gets up and leaves. OR 1. A whack-job christian fundamentalist, primed to interpret ANY suggestion that ANY Biblical claim might not have a totally factual basis, and is therefor a direct attack upon God himself, blows up over a totally innocuous comment about conflicts between biblical passages and scientifically verifiable facts. ---
**Author:** ![Liberal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/848f3c/32.png) [@Liberal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Liberal)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2007, 12:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bill-nye-booed-for-telling-students-the-moon-only-reflects-light/416038/97 "2007-08-22T00:33:44Z")
[QUOTE=Troy McClure SF] Facts simply _are_. It’s not Bill Nye’s fault that they contradict a belief system. Especially since facts and belief inherently contradict. [/QUOTE] Well, that’s not true. Even science distinguishes between a fact as a state of affairs, and an assertion of fact. There is nothing inherent about belief that pits it automatically against fact. ---
**Author:** ![Una\_Persson](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/una_persson/32/346_2.png) [@Una\_Persson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Una_Persson)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2007, 12:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bill-nye-booed-for-telling-students-the-moon-only-reflects-light/416038/98 "2007-08-22T00:50:27Z")
[QUOTE=crowmanyclouds] Good, but not as good as Jesus, [riding a Jesus horse](http://images.tribe.net/tribe/upload/photo/fee/a04/feea0493-1086-43ea-9b57-ee0c43ece9ba.large-profile.jpg)! CMC fnord! [/QUOTE] I’ve said it before, but some day, I will finally find a painting of Jesus riding a stegosaurus, wearing cowboy apparel and twirling a lasso, painted on black velvet no less. And on that day, I will be a happy woman indeed. ---
**Author:** ![netsplit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/ecc23a/32.png) [@netsplit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/netsplit)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2007, 1:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bill-nye-booed-for-telling-students-the-moon-only-reflects-light/416038/99 "2007-08-22T01:19:44Z")
[QUOTE=dnooman] What does he think he is? Some sort of Science Guy? That bastard! [/QUOTE] This one wins the thread. ---
**Author:** ![Frylock](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/ce7236/32.png) [@Frylock](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Frylock)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2007, 4:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bill-nye-booed-for-telling-students-the-moon-only-reflects-light/416038/100 "2007-08-22T04:08:30Z")
[QUOTE=Ellis Dee] I tend to disagree. You don’t believe facts; you know them. Much like you don’t know the truth of your faith, you believe it. [/QUOTE] In my family we’ve been known to needlessly mess with our kids’ heads alot. So for example, when I was a small child, my grandfather on one occasion told me (and I believed him!) the following: 1. Chocolate is frozen orange juice. 2. The show “Dif’rent Stroke” is a sequel to another show named “Strokes,” and “Strokes” was the same show as “Hee-Haw.” (I believed him! Oh God why did I believe him?) 3. He is my father’s father. He told me these three things all in the same conversation, and gave no supporting considerations–simply made the assertions in the course of conversation.\* I’d say that, at that time, I believed my grandfather was my father’s father, and it was a fact that my grandfather was my father’s father, but I did not know my grandfather was my father’s father. I didn’t know, because my information was from an unreliable source. Another kind of case: The other day I heard a noise downstairs and believed as a result that my wife was home. In fact, she had indeed just arrived home. But also in fact, the noise I heard wasn’t her, it was my cat falling off the kitchen cabinet So when I heard the noise, as a result, I would say I believed my wife was home, and that it was a fact that she was home, but I did not know my wife was home. I did not know because my basis for belief had nothing actually to do with her actual location–it was just a coincidence that she happened to be home when I formed the belief ni question. -FrL- \*And now you know why I’ve had at least a passing interest in Philosophy–specifically Epistemology–since the fourth grade. 😛 [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bill-nye-booed-for-telling-students-the-moon-only-reflects-light/416038.md?page=4) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bill-nye-booed-for-telling-students-the-moon-only-reflects-light/416038.md?page=6)